Software Announcements from PalmSource

Posted By: Ryan Monday, February 16, 2004 8:19:50 PM

A large number of new Palm OS software applications were announced, updated or previewed at the recent developer conference. Read on for an overview of the many new titles shown at PalmSource.

Backup Buddy 2.0
BlueNomad announced BackupBuddy 2.0. The new version introduces a unique patent-pending process for backing up devices and storing all changes made to the device since the last backup in a database. It keeps a complete history of any given device's files and settings from each backup, allowing to restore individual files or their entire device to any previous point in time with one click. BackupBuddy 2 will be available at the end of Q1 2004 for $29.95.

Audible Announces Mac OS X/iTunes Compatibility
Mac users running OS X and iTunes 4 can now download and listen to audiobooks, audio editions of newspapers, magazines onto their audio-enabled handhelds from palmOne and Sony running Palm OS 5. Users download and store Audible's audio titles to iTunes and then transfer audio to the handheld's internal memory or removable storage media via a software plug-in developed for this purpose by Audible.

Beiks Intros BDicty Update
Beiks announced a new version of its popular BDicty Dictionary Reader that includes full text search capabilities for OS 5 based devices. BDicty Dictionary is available in two versions, Light and Pro. Both versions can open and work with any of the lexicon data files designed for BDicty-including the most recent addition of talking foreign language phrasebooks, which audibly tell users how to properly pronounce a word or phrase. The Light version of BDicty is free while the Pro version costs US$10.00.

Plug2Net does Bluetooth and USB Networking
Corsoft announced the latest version of Plug2Net software. The new version enables users to connect their Palm Powered device to the Internet via USB and Bluetooth. Plug2Net provides supplemental access to the Internet regardless of cellular service, enabling users to access their critical data via multiple connectivity options on their devices: USB, serial, infrared or Bluetooth. Plug2Net is available for US$34.95, or it can be purchased with the infrared adapter for $99.95.

Splash ID v3
SplashData announced a major upgrade to its best-selling personal identification organizer, SplashID. SplashData's development team focused its efforts on personalization, simplification and enhanced security. SplashID 3.0 for Palm OS and Windows will be available in February for $29.95. Current users can upgrade for $9.95. Mac OS Desktop software will be available in March.

MailWave for the Treo 600
MailWave is a new email client specifically optimized for the Treo 600 and other smartphones. MailWave uses standard protocols such as POP3 and IMAP4 to access the users’ messages and easily integrated into most existing corporate or ISP based email systems. I has a number of optimizations for the Treo 600, 128-bit OTA encryption, filters, attachment forwarding and can be deployed behind a firewall.

Fun Comm Announces pointUSA
A new app called pointUSA from Fun Comm enables the user to explore the United States and retrieve key info and stats about each state. The program will show position of the state displayed in the map, capital, area, population of the state and the 50 biggest cities, per capita income, poverty rate, ethnic structure of the population, time and date of your own time-zone, worldwide, time and date of the current selected state in the map. It also has a built in quiz and state comparison features, it sells for $19.95.

WordPop!
Smart Box Design releaded a new game called WordPop!, a challenging word creation game featuring a list of over 80,000 word possibilities. The game requires players to take a strategic approach to assemble various combinations of words on a game board comprised of randomly placed letter tiles. The object of the game is to clear the board by creating words from the letter tiles. As each word is formed, the tiles in the word are removed and the remaining tiles fall into the vacated spaces and create new word possibilities. It sells for $14.95.

SmartList to Go v3
DataViz has announced SmartList To Go 3.0, which will be available in March. New enhancements include a revamped desktop app, hi-res and expansion card support, a creation wizard and new integration options. . The suggested retail price is $49.95, v2.x users can upgrade to SmartList To Go 3.0 for $29.95.

WiFile Brings the Network Shares to Your Handheld
Hands High Software announced the new WiFile software solution. It uses the SMB/CIFS networking standard to directly connect to Windows/Mac/Linux shared directories using the native networking protocol of Windows computers. With WiFile users can directly access Applications, databases, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, MP3 music files, JPEG pictures, and more, all located on their personal computers or corporate servers. It is scheduled to be available by the end of March for $29.95.

PhoneMagic v1.25
Penticon Technologies announced the release of Version 1.25 of PhoneMagic for Palm Powered handhelds and smartphones. PhoneMagic has a number of useful features that build on top of the address book including: Call Reminders, events virtual links, smart lookup, stylus free lookup, tone dialing and the ability to view recently added entries. A 30 day evaluation is available, the software can be purchased for $19.95.

New Japanese Language Learning Tool
Mountainside Productions launched the new KATAHIRA application, the software is a unique product that makes learning Japanese kana fun and game-like. Based on a "Notebook" paradigm, KATAHIRA teaches in three ways—on its Learn, Read, and Write pages. A Bonus page includes a "concentration"—like game based on Hiragana. The shareware app is available for $20.

Berlitz Phrase Books
Pleco Software announced the release of Berlitz Phrase Books. The books provide a easy-to-use reference to nearly all of the world's major tourist languages, offering everything a traveler needs to communicate effectively in a foreign country. Each translated phrase can optionally be accompanied by a pronunciation guide, giving an English-like equivalent to the translated text. And thanks to its integrated Unicode support, Berlitz for Palm OS supports native display of languages with non-Roman alphabets such as Russian, Greek, and Chinese. Each book features over 2,300 words and more than 1,200 phrases and expressions, with as many as 8,000 entries total in some books. Each language sells for $14.95.

Stay tuned for more of our continuing coverage of the PalmSource conference this week.

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Woohoo!

RhinoSteve @ 2/16/2004 11:37:13 PM #

I think why so much software shows up like this on the Palm so quickly is that there is little fear that the OS company will write a rip off app and bundle it in the OS like the competition does.

Yea, there have been some conflict with browsers but in general, the OS company tries to bundle in thrid party instead of writing a knock off.

Maybe some better games?

tfftruoa @ 2/17/2004 12:18:02 AM #

Does anyone know what kind of games with higher level 3D and graphics will be supported by OS6? I saw a PPC version of Age of Empires which looks very impressive, but other than Warfare Inc, Palm doesn't seem to have many games even close to that level of graphics and complexity.

If I can run Starcraft on my HP with a 450mhz Celeron and 64 mgs of RAM, I should sure as hell be able to run a port of it on my 400mhz, 53mgs TT3...

RE: Maybe some better games?

bcombee @ 2/17/2004 1:46:07 AM #

Maybe... remember that Starcraft actually takes up quite a few MB of hard drive space plus CD-ROM. That kind of storage on a Palm OS device requires storing data files on an external memory card. Also, its a game optimized for a particular kind of interface, mainly mouse and keyboard. With a Palm OS PDA, you don't have that -- you have a drag and point interface, so the game would need to be reworked to handle that. I'm not saying it isn't possible -- I think it could work OK, but the game would change a bit in the transition. Finally, StarCraft liked a 640x480 screen, and worked better with a larger one. No Palm OS PDA has that kind of screen real estate just yet, and even if it did, objects would probably be too small to be easily selectable or usable.

--
Ben Combee, CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Programming help at www.palmoswerks.com

RE: Maybe some better games?

Massman82 @ 2/17/2004 2:21:30 AM #

We're getting there--especially with some recent titles such as Snails, Warfare, Magic World, and Legacy!

Look for the PDArcade game of the year awards soon (published tomorrow or wednesday) to see some other great titles.

-------------
Roman
Clie NX60 - Massman82@PDArcade.com

RE: Maybe some better games?

hkklife @ 2/17/2004 9:25:47 AM #

(Rant Alert below)

I think that the whole "PDA Gaming" market is going to be in for a very rough time over the next year or two.

Why?

Fivemajor reasons, IMHO (not counting the usual "button layout on X handheld sucks!" woes):

1. Size/space constraints. As Ben mentions, we're looking at multi-meg installs on external storage for anything more complex than your average chess program, especially with graphic sets for different board layouts, card designs etc & audio files. As built-in RAM continues to increase and the cost of SD/MS cards continue to fall, this becomes a non-issue as far as I am concerned. I remember vividly being squeezed for space back in '99 on my old PC's 4.3gb HD. Then I upgraded to a 45gb drive in '00 and I never looked back and never have lacked storage space, as the price per megabyte became so low that the need for PC titles top ship on DVD was almost entirely eliminated. This is the least worrying of the 5 concerns.

2. Dwindling pfotability. Most people I know (everyone but me, in fact) that uses a PDA abs9olutely refuses to pay for any software that's not bundled with their Palm. Not to say all of my friends, relatives, and coworkers are software pirates but they just don't see why they have to pay for something "so little" (LOL). Recently I was trying to help the wife of a colleague find a Solitaire program and when I told her the registration charge was $10, she said "just give me old laptop where Spider Solitare came free! The growing threat of the next GameBoy and the upcoming PSP offer PS1 or better graphics, good battery life and excellent control, so that will probably wipe out all action-style games on Palms as these appealing platforms gain develop support. Anyway, as game development costs rise, it's going to be harder for companies to justify increased development budgets, especially with SO many new handhelds/game platforms to develop for and support, which brings me to my next point:

3. Support Issues. It used to be you just hand Palm Pilots. Then we had Sonys, Handspring, and Handeras but it was still a managable list and you could have your high-res color game, a low-res color version, and a low-res mono version. Now there are numerous screen types, sizes, CPUs, audio APIs etc to deal with. A small-time develop knows that if they don't have at least semi-dazzling graphics in high-res and rudimentary audio, they'll be overlooked. But I've seen numous instances of a game that launched buggy but with cutting-edge features. I held off buying it, waiting for the inevitable update that ultimately never arrived. I suppose they blew their wad in initial devlopment and there was nothing left to fund product updates but sales were less than spectacular due to the bugs-truly a catch-22 in the worst possible way!

4. Content Delivery Issues. If it ships on SD or CD, it can snag retail sales on the backs of MDM or Handmark etc. However, Handmark being a very notable and pleasant exception, all of the titles I've bought at retail are "as is" titles. That is, if you buy an Astraware CD-Rom title from GlobalStar you are not entitled to the same updates & support as "download" customers are. This recently enraged me after I purchased the MDM PopCap games card while on a trip. I saw there were updates to those titles a month or so later, including sound for BeJeweled. I emailed Astraware & politely explained my dilemma. The lady e-mailed me back and said that it was their policy not to support retail titles, no updates were available, etc. However, I could purchasea downloadable registered copy of each of the games for the "special" price of $9.99 or $12.99 each--no thank you! I just dropped $40 on a crippled MMC full of games and now you want me to repurchase them? I was also told the same thing for Ricochet & several other titles on the Game Essentials card.

5. Non-Availability of Updates.
I thaet from now on, MDM/Handmark etc either include some sort of personalized serial # in their packages so that we can get at least a handful of updates. Handmark, bless their souls, DOES include a serial # in some of their retail packages but you still have to contact Cust Serv. and work things out with them to receive a valid registration # (different from the product serial). It needs to be more streamlined than that.

I just recently deleted a bunch of games off of my SD card that I have given up hope of ever seeing updates for (BumpAttack Pinball, Siberian Strike, Karateka etc) due to developer or publisher apathy. I think I'm going to stop buying & registering Palm entertainment titles unless it's a top-notch title from a major developer. On the console world once you purchase a title it doesn't go anywhere and can be played as long as you have that console. On a PC, more or less, you can plan any "modern" title for a good 6-8 years until major OS & CPU changes render a game incompatible or too fast to be played. I still play Quake 1 under XP & occasionally a Doom game, 10 years after Doom was released. However, I purchased Bump Attack 7 months ago for my T2 and now it's useless on my T3. Someone had better come up with a more elegant solution to the above issues before PDA gaming becomes relegated to the "novelties of technology" scrap heap, right next to WAP & push content. I'll also certainly avoid buying a Zodiac now after having been burned so many times in the past year as far as game updates (or lack of updates) go. Looks like the PSP's gonna mop up left & right...

RE: Maybe some better games?

helf @ 2/17/2004 12:41:06 PM #

*yawn* ;)

RE: Maybe some better games?

hkklife @ 2/17/2004 3:43:48 PM #

Hey come on, I was siting at my desk waiting for a conference call to start-I had some time to kill & I was in a preachy mood! LOL ;-p

RE: Maybe some better games?

Hal2000 @ 2/17/2004 9:33:12 PM #

Re: Rant. Get a better paying job so you can afford the new s**t.

Zodiac2/T616
1.128 gigs under the hood.

RE: Maybe some better games?

hkklife @ 2/17/2004 10:08:42 PM #

Hey bub, my PDA purchasing power is perfectly fine, thank you very much. Keep your flames to yourself if you don't have anything worthwhile to post. Come to think of it,if Hal's one-liners & "Woo Hoo first Valentine's post" posts personify the new breed of PDA owner, then let the damned PDA market tank...

Geez, I try to post a thoughtful editorial gratis and am met with a bunch of blank stares & yawns-it makes me wonder sometimes why I even bother with the site, especially if no one other than Mike Cane is willing to bother posting anything significantly thought-provoking. Everyone's quick to sit around b*tch*ng about no new updates nd trying to make a first post but no one seems to be in a rush to help Ryan out by contributing any notable content. You want another Palmstation on our hands, suckers?

I think I'll take a brief sojurn from PIC and let the children play amongst themselves, since it's obvious the mature, thriving PDA software market is beyond any sort of criticism by paying end users such as myself. Zodiac software in particular seems to be setting the sales charts afire these days.

thinkDB Resurrected

jjsoh @ 2/17/2004 5:49:22 PM #

The announcement that has me most excited is SmartList to Go v3. Ever since thinkingBytes handed over one of (if not THE) best database programs for Palm OS to DataViz, I was a bit concerned.

I've been waiting for an high resolution update to this program for a long time, so I can create better forms and fit more fields on the screen without having to scroll so often to view more information. I anxiously await to see if the new version is upgrade-worthy.

As long as they have improved on it in the way that Docs to Go has been improved over the years, I'd gladly pay $30 for the upgrade.

Jim

RE: thinkDB Resurrected

Galley_SimRacer @ 2/18/2004 1:31:12 AM #

I haven't had a chance to mess around much with version 3 yet, but the HiRes fonts support is nice.

--
"I'm not a cool person in real life, but I play one on the Internet".
Galley